Taipei’s Hakka Cultural Park will play host to a one-day film and live music festival tomorrow on the theme of “Woman to Woman,” featuring three socially-conscious documentaries that pay homage to strong female figures. Admission is free.
The first half of the festival starts at 2pm with Neglect (覆巢) by independent filmmaker Cheng Hui-ling (鄭慧玲). The film charts Hsu Yu-hung’s (徐玉紅) transformation from homemaker to hardened activist, as she protests the government’s expropriation of land that her house sat on for a development connected to the Taoyuan International Airport. Hsu and director Cheng will also be present for a post-screening discussion.
Sonita Alizadeh, titular character of the second documentary, Sonita, gained fame at the age of 16 through her rap video Brides for Sale, written after her family tried to sell her into marriage. The feisty rapper and activist uses rap as a way to challenge the restrictions that Afghan culture places on women, especially child marriage. Director Rokhsareh Ghaemmaghami won a Grand Jury Prize for her film at the Sundance Film Festival in 2016.
Photo courtesy of New Narratives Film Festival
The second half continues at 7pm with the Iranian documentary No Land’s Song by director Ayat Najafi. Musician Sara Najafi tries to stage an all-female live music performance in Iran, where women are forbidden from singing as soloists in public. The darkly humorous film sees Najafi and her colleagues clash with clerics and censors, exposing the absurdities of misogyny.
Mirroring the international exchange between Iranian and French musicians in the documentary, Najafi will be joined by Hakka singer-songwriter Misa (米莎) and Thai cellist Yui-Saowakhon Muangkruan in a live music performance after the screening. Najafi and Misa will also be part of a late-night discussion with directors Cheng and Ayat Najafi.
■ Tomorrow; from 2pm to 6pm, and 7pm to late
Photo courtesy of New Narratives Film Festival
■ Taipei Hakka Cultural Park Music and Theater Center (客家文化主題公園音樂戲劇中心), 2, Tingzhou Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市汀州路三段2號)
■ Admission is free; limited tickets for each half are available at the door or with online registration: forms.gle/deKuvUiN9Wff4rei9
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